Syracuse.com - Nationally ranked Fayetteville snowboarder wins, despite broken nose

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Elaine Supp, who competes in boardercross competitions, is nationally ranked. See video interview done this week. Watch video

Elaine Supp David Lassman/The Post-Standard

Syracuse, N.Y.— Most snowboarders would have taken the day off after taking a 12-foot jump, landing on their face and breaking their nose.

Not boardercross racer Elaine Supp. She stopped the bleeding and was determined to continue -- and she did, winning her race.

The 30-year-old Fayetteville, resident has been competing in regional and national boardercross for three years. Her sport involves speeding down a steep snow course riddled with obstacles while trying to beat three to four other racers to the finish line. She is currently ranked fifth in the nation against other female racers in her class.

Supp had been practicing on a U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association boardercross course at Windham Mountain in the Catskills prior to a regional race when the injury happened.

Supp, 30, a Cherry Valley, N.Y. native now living in Fayetteville, has been competing in boardercross competitions for three years and is nationally ranked. David Lassman/The Post-Standard

She was trying to make it over a wall, or a steeply sloped jump situated right out of the starting gate.

"I couldn't get over this first wall for anything," Supp said. "So that time I just threw myself at the wall and I guess I got a little too far over it."

She flew over the downslope on the other side of the wall and slammed into the ground from 12 feet up. Her helmet protected her skull but shoved her goggles down into her face. Her nose was bleeding profusely as she stood up, but it was "still pretty straight", so she didn't think it was broken, she said.

The race would start within hours. She checked in with ski patrol to make sure she didn't have a concussion, but after they cleared her she was ready to hit the slope again.

"I wanted to get back up and make it down the course," Supp said. "You've got make yourself do it again." And she did, clearing that first wall and beating out her competitors for another win.

Several days later she decided to see a doctor about her nose. Yes, it was broken. However, since it's still straight she's decided against having it surgically fixed.

As a native of Cherry Valley, N.Y., Supp started skiing and snowboarding in the Catskill Mountains when she was young. She decided that she wanted to try boardercross after watching the Winter X Games on TV several years ago.

Supp entered her first Catskill Mountain Series race at Windham Mountain in April 2011 and won ."Even though I'd snowboarded a lot, I hadn't really been on a course like that before," Supp said. "And it was a blast."

She then advanced to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association National Championships in Colorado and walked away with the bronze.

A year later she was national champion and racing in the pro class against the best boarders in the league. She's headed to the Empire State Games this weekend and the 2013 USASA Championships in April.

This injury hasn't deterred Supp from competing in her sport. She said boarders fall and get hurt "in every race". Not only can you fall unexpectedly anywhere on the course, but you can be legally pushed or get cut off by other riders, she said.

Supp said occasionally getting hurt is just part of the sport. David Lassman/The Post-Standard

She has never seriously injured herself in races before. She wears a helmet, wrist guards and a spine guard just in case.

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a nose guard for boarders, she said.

"You have to be aggressive and trust that you know what to do when stuff comes up," Supp said. "There's a lot of ways I could get hurt doing this."

After racking up so many medals in such a short period of time, Supp could be racing against Olympic hopefuls at future competitions in the Rockies. But getting out West on a regular basis means leaving family behind and its costly, Supp said.

Her current sponsors give her equipment for races, but that "doesn't really pay for all those plane tickets," she said.

For now, she will continue competing in boardercross regionally and nationally, and take the bumps and bruises along the way with perseverance.

"If I didn't want to get hurt, I'd sit at home on my couch," Supp said. "If you don't get hurt in this sport, you're not trying."

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog